


tempests

by mnflwr



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, Kinda, Kissing in the Rain, Kozume Kenma is Bad at Feelings, Kozume Kenma is a Tease, Kuroo Tetsurou is a Mess, M/M, POV Kuroo Tetsurou, Pining Kuroo Tetsurou, Rain, Trains, gratuitous mentions of jackets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-27 23:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30130689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mnflwr/pseuds/mnflwr
Summary: They weren’t expecting the rain.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	tempests

**Author's Note:**

> if I had to pick a song that matches the vibes of this fic, it would probably be pink in the night by mitski

They weren’t expecting the rain.

It comes down in sheets, violently crashing down onto the ground with enough force to shred someone’s clothes off. Kuroo is about to thank the gods that he isn’t one of those unlucky bastards who forgot to bring an umbrella.

_Oh, wait. He is._

He stands with Kenma under the awning outside of the clubroom, the latter clutching the straps of his bag and glaring out at the rain with the fiery rage of a thousand suns.

Of course, neither of them had brought umbrellas, since neither of them had checked the weather forecast beforehand, because who does that?

 _Well, apparently, everyone else who had left with an umbrella despite the morning being deceptively sunny_ , so there’s Kuroo’s answer.

And unfortunately, there’s no one left in the clubroom but Kenma and himself, since Kuroo had to stay back to talk to Coach Nekomata, who has already left, and Kenma stayed because he needs someone to guide him home when he’s too busy playing on his PSP to be bothered to look where he’s going.

(Since when had Kuroo become Kenma’s glorified seeing-eye dog?)

They both stand there in silence for an indefinite amount of seconds before Kuroo dramatically strokes his chin in contemplation. “What if we just wait it out?” 

“Can’t. Weather forecast says it won’t stop until at least 2 AM.”

“Oh, so _now_ you check the weather?”

“As I remember, you didn’t either.”

“Touche. Well-” Kuroo looks to either side of him and realizes there’s no convenient way out of this. “I guess we’re just going to have to brave the storm then.”

Kenma’s face scrunches up even further- if it’s even possible- before he sets down his bag and shrugs out of his jacket. Kuroo quirks an eyebrow in confusion as Kenma takes his jacket and ties it firmly around his head and shoulders, then picks up his bag and clutches it to his chest.

Kuroo chokes back a laugh at the sight of Kenma’s pissed-off expression enveloped in bright Nekoma red. He’s _adorable_. 

“Kuro-”

Kuroo muffles his laughter with a fist. “What? I didn’t say anything.”

Kenma huffs. “My PSP is in here and- whatever. Let’s just get going before we miss our train.”

The walk- or frantic run, rather- from the school to the train station is, thankfully, not very long. They catapult into the train with only seconds to spare, the doors hissing closed behind them as they collapse onto their seats, absolutely and positively drenched.

Part of Kuroo wants to apologize to the rest of the passengers, few as they may be, for tracking in so much mud and water, but to be perfectly honest, right now he’s too exhausted to care. It seems Kenma is too, what with the way that his eyes are drooping closed.

His makeshift hood is completely soaked, and it looks like he plans on falling asleep without even attempting to remove it. The fact that they ran through the rain with nothing to keep them dry except for their jackets was bad enough, but if Kenma keeps that jacket on, he’s most definitely going to get sick.

Kuroo sighs and gets to work on untying the knot. It isn’t long after he’s slipped the wet jacket off of Kenma’s head and placed it to the side that he suddenly feels something fall against his shoulder. 

Ah.

It seems that Kenma is already asleep. And has unconsciously chosen Kuroo to be his designated headrest. Peachy.

 _And_ now he’s slipping off. Kuroo quickly brings his hand up to cradle the base of Kenma’s skull and places it so that it rests properly on Kuroo’s shoulder and slightly under his chin. Kenma’s warm breaths puff against his collarbone, his hair smells faintly of rain and his coconut shampoo. Kuroo desperately attempts to tamp down his rising heart rate. Lucky for him, Kenma is fast asleep in dreamland, impervious to Kuroo’s crisis.

Now that he’s able to get a good look at Kenma, Kuroo realizes he didn’t look this tired before- is he getting enough sleep these days? Kuroo makes a note in his head to ask him if he’s been waking up early to play video games again instead of sleeping like a normal person. Or perhaps he’s been feeling weak? Maybe he’s not eating enough vegetables… In that case, Kuroo should start packing some extra in his bento and sneak them to Kenma during lunch when he isn’t looking. He could tell Kozume-san to give Kenma a little extra, but Kozume-san is a woman who doesn’t know the meaning of “a little”- Kenma would definitely notice and then refuse to eat them out of spite, which defeats the purpose of the whole thing. He could try challenging Kenma to a bet, whoever beats this level faster gets to tell the other person what to do, and- nevermind, that would never work in a million years, not with Kenma.

Kuroo’s train of thought is interrupted by the _literal_ train stopping, signaling that it’s time to leave. He lightly shakes Kenma awake, and Kenma groans before heaving himself up and trudging out of the train with his bag. He’s still rubbing at his eyes as they make their way to the exit.

“Awake now, sleeping beauty?”

“ _Ugh_.”

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then. Have you been getting enough sleep lately?”

Kenma’s silence is enough of an answer.

“Kenma, please don’t tell me you stayed up all night again-”

“I didn’t stay up all night again.”

“You _did_.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Did _not_.”

“...”

“...”

“... Did too.”

“ _Kuro_.”

“Fine, fine. Keep your secrets. Let’s just see if we can find a bus.”

They don’t usually take the bus home, since the distance between the train station and their homes is small enough that it would be pointless to. Still, being forced to run through the rain from the school to the train station was bad enough, and neither of them are enthusiastic about going through all of that again. Luckily, the bus station is close enough to the train station that it wouldn’t be too out of their way to take it. Kuroo estimates it’s only about a two-minute jog away from their current location. 

“Kuro?”

“Hm?”

“Where’s my jacket?”

“Your jacket? It should be right about-”

He had untied the jacket from around Kenma’s head, and then placed it to the side-

On the seat on the train. Where it probably still was.

Shit.

“Funny you mention that jacket, because, haha…” Kuroo trailed off, sheepish.

“Oh my god-”

“It’s fine! I’ll get it back! You just take the bus back home and I’ll-”

“My bus pass is in my jacket pocket.”

“Ah, well, you could just use mine then-”

“Your bus pass is sitting on your kitchen counter.”

“You- how do you know that?”

“I saw it this morning. You take forever to get ready.”

 _You know, it would have been nice if you’d told me that_ ** _this morning_ **… 

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think there’d be a point. We never take the bus.” As always, Kenma’s ability to read Kuroo’s mind in an instant is terrifying.

“Then... why don’t you just buy a ticket on the bus?”

“My money is in my jacket too.”

“That- okay- I’ll give you money to buy a bus ticket.”

“You already spent all your money.”

“What? No I didn’t!”

“You did. You spent nearly all of it on popsicles yesterday for the others trying to be a ‘good upperclassman’ and then you spent whatever was left on tea from the vending machine during lunch.”

Kuroo quickly rummages through his pockets and they come up- empty. “ _For fuck’s sake_ \- Okay! Here’s the plan! We get on the bus and hope that some kind stranger will lend us two poor children enough yen to buy bus tickets.”

“...”

“It could work.”

“Kuro.”

“Well, do you have a better plan? Because it looks like pretty much all of our options have been exhausted.”

Kenma chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment. “Not really.”

“Then, I guess the best we can do for now is just run home and hope it isn’t too bad.”

Kenma frowns before begrudgingly nodding in agreement, and Kuroo prepares to sprint.

 _But_ , he realizes, Kenma doesn’t have anything to cover himself with. Considering his propensity to get sick, there’s no way Kuroo could just let him face the elements with nothing to shield himself.

He slips his arms out of his jacket and plops it on Kenma’s unsuspecting head.

“What the hell.”

“Can’t have you getting a fever now, can we, Kenma-kun?”

“I’ll be fine without it.”

“You and me both know that’s a lie, mister _gets-sick-after-every-match._ ”

“It’s not _every_ match…”

“Technicalities.”

“This jacket is damp.”

“Still better you have that than go out into the rain directly.”

Kenma yanks the jacket down and away from his face. “Okay, so what are you going to do then?”

“... Me?”

“If you give me your jacket, then how are you going to stay dry?”

“Uh…” Now, Kuroo could lie and say he hadn’t thought of that, but the truth is he had, he just didn’t care. He shrugs.

“I mean, I don’t get sick as easily as you do, so… don’t worry about it. I’ll just use my bag or something.” 

Kenma squints a bit at Kuroo but says nothing.

“What is it?”

“You know, we could just-” Kenma makes a strange gesture with his hands. 

“Eh?” Kuroo isn’t quite sure what he means, especially since the jacket is still draped over Kenma’s hands and he can’t even tell what gesture he was trying to make in the first place.

“I mean- if you’re that concerned with making sure I stay dry, we could just- share it… or something? That way you don’t get wet either.”

Kuroo hadn’t thought about that actually- it wasn’t a half-bad idea.

“You know what? Okay, we can do that. Just hang on a second.”

Kuroo slips his bag around his body so that he has two free hands and holds up his jacket above them, allowing Kenma to slip under it. He’s nearly tucked under Kuroo’s arm at this point. With their close proximity, Kuroo can feel Kenma shiver, can hear his teeth chattering. He’s always been a bit more sensitive to temperature changes, after all, and this wind definitely isn’t helping, especially since his jacket is MIA. If Kuroo wanted, he could wrap his arm around Kenma and press him fully to his side, just so that he’s a little less cold.

But Kuroo’s a coward, so he won’t. 

Besides, then he’d have to let go of the jacket, and even though it’s not exactly doing much to shield _himself_ from the rain, he holds it up anyway (even though considering how long it’s going to take to get to their houses, his arms are going to hurt like a _bitch_ ).

Kuroo looks down at Kenma for reassurance. He doesn’t want Kenma to feel too crowded or anything, even though this kind of closeness is hardly new for them. “This okay?”

Kenma hesitates before nodding jerkily. “Yeah.”

Kuroo nods back and is about to step out into the street when there’s a tug on his shirt. He turns his head and Kenma’s eyes are unusually alert considering that he was asleep not five minutes ago, flitting back and forth from his face to the empty street around them as if to scope out an enemy. 

“... Kenma?”

Kenma isn’t responding, he’s just looking up at Kuroo with that strange, strange expression. For once, it’s one that Kuroo isn’t able to decode at first glance.

“What’s wro-”

Before he can finish his question, he’s answered by a hand on his shoulder, the jacket being pulled down around their heads, and the dry pressure of chapped lips on his own.

It’s not perfect by any means- Kenma’s decently shorter than Kuroo, and so he misses his mark a bit, the kiss (if you can really call it that) lands half on Kuroo’s mouth, half on his chin, and Kenma’s obviously never done anything like this before, given that all he’s really doing is pressing his lips to Kuroo’s and nothing else, but it’s not like Kuroo can really blame him for it since, you know, it’s not exactly like he’s an expert either. 

They still haven’t fully dried off from their first run through the rain, so Kenma’s still a little damp, but he’s warm, his hand is warm, his lips are warm, and they warm Kuroo all the way to his toes. 

Kuroo doesn’t get the chance to further process _just what the hell is happening_ before Kenma is pulling away. His eyes open slowly, and then all at once, and suddenly they’re blown wider than they’ve ever been, panic apparent on his features. He looks more shocked about what just happened than Kuroo is.

Kuroo doesn’t know exactly what it was he was expecting- for Kenma to say something, like maybe explain what just happened? That would be nice. What he’s not expecting is for him to whirl around and take off running like he’s just spotted an axe murderer. 

The jacket slips to the ground, abandoned.

Kenma may move fast, but Kuroo is faster. Even with Kenma’s head start and the sheer speed at which he’s running- Kuroo doesn’t think he’s ever seen Kenma run this fast before- it doesn’t make up for Kuroo’s freakishly long strides, and he catches up pretty quickly. 

He reaches for Kenma’s right hand with his left and it slips through his fingers, slick with rainwater, but he manages to clutch his wrist instead. Kenma struggles in his grasp, attempting to wrench his arm out before recognizing that it’s futile- Kuroo isn’t letting him go anywhere. 

Kenma’s face is turned away, his head tilted down. There’s no sound except for the crash of rain on asphalt.

“Kenma,” Kuroo has to shout just so Kenma can hear him over the downpour, “Turn around.” 

When he doesn’t, Kuroo yanks him back gently (at least, as gently as one can yank someone), swinging him around, and uses the momentum to grab his left hand. Now they’re face to face, but Kenma won’t meet his eyes. His hair is completely soaked, dark and heavy- a curtain over his expression. Kuroo has witnessed Kenma put up walls in front of other people many times throughout their lives, but never to Kuroo himself.

“Kenma. Look at me. Please.” 

He doesn’t. 

Kuroo releases one of his wrists and pushes a hand into Kenma’s hair, brushing it back from his face and tucking it behind his ear so that he can properly look at him. 

Kenma’s eyes are downcast, faded- their usual spark is muted somehow. His mouth is pressed into a thin line. When Kuroo’s thumb accidentally grazes his jawline, he flinches, and it sends a thorned dagger twisting deep into Kuroo’s stomach.

“Ken-”

Kenma interrupts him. His voice is quiet. “I didn’t mean it.” 

This time it’s Kuroo’s turn to flinch. 

“ _What_?”

Kenma’s face jerks upward. His brows are furrowed and his blond hair sticks to his cheeks and he looks absolutely miserable.

“You heard me,” he bites out. “ _I didn’t mean it._ We can just forget about it. Now let go of me.”

Kuroo is silent as he mulls over what just happened. 

Kenma just kissed him. 

Kenma _kissed_ him. 

Kenma, who is maybe one of the bluntest and most straightforward people he knows, who never expends unnecessary energy unless he absolutely has to, just _kissed_ him and is claiming that he didn’t mean it.

Somehow, Kuroo finds that hard to believe.

“Kenma, do you think I’m an idiot?”

Kenma tenses in Kuroo’s grasp. “What?”

“I _said_ , ‘Kenma, do you think I’m an idiot?’ Because considering what you’ve been doing, it really feels like that.”

“Kuro,” Kenma hisses, “If you think you’re being funny, you’re not.”

“ _Ko-zu-me-Ke-n-ma._ Did you honestly think, after over a decade of knowing each other, that I wouldn’t be able to tell when you’re lying?”

Kenma freezes. He quickly glances off to a spot on the ground, biting down on his bottom lip until it’s turned white. 

Kuroo has to hold back the giddy grin that threatens to form on his face. _So I am right, then._

After a few excruciatingly slow seconds pass, Kenma allows himself to look back up, and his expression of frustration morphs to confusion when he sees Kuroo’s face. “... What are you so happy about?”

Kuroo doesn’t reply. Instead, he uses the hand that was buried in Kenma’s hair to swipe some of the rainwater away from Kenma’s cheek, and leans in, stopping just a hair’s breadth short of Kenma’s bewildered stare. 

“Next time, you should ask for permission,” he breathes. “Like this. Kenma, can I kiss you?”

Kuroo doesn’t even get an answer before Kenma’s surging up to meet him.

Despite there being significantly more rain, this kiss is already way better than the first. For one thing, Kuroo is actually prepared for it, and second, the look on Kenma’s face when he realized just what was happening was absolutely priceless. 

Of course, it still isn’t perfect- neither one of them has ever done anything like this before (well, if you don’t count a few minutes ago), and their movements are still nervous, tentative- but, in a way, isn’t that what makes it perfect? That doesn’t actually make much sense, but Kuroo’s brain is kinda crashing at the moment, so not much is making sense to him right now.

(He mentally congratulates himself for that smooth line from before- though whether or not Kenma thought it was smooth is still up in the air.)

(Then again, judging by everything, Kenma apparently likes him anyways, so maybe his judgment is a bit flawed to begin with.)

The kiss is soft, chaste, just as expected for a first. It’s a simple pressing of mouths, similar to before, but it still sends Kuroo’s heart into overdrive. Kenma leans further into Kuroo, sighing, and that is the moment that Kuroo decides that he has died and gone to the afterlife. He is surrounded by the smell of rain and coconut and _Kenma_ \- and despite the hail-like relentless pounding of rain on his back, he feels so incredibly light.

He cradles Kenma’s face with one hand and clutches his wrist with the other as he kisses him, but Kenma is still a bit stiff. Kuroo slides his hand up to intertwine his fingers with Kenma’s, rubbing his knuckles with his thumb in a reassuring gesture, and it’s this that prompts Kenma to relax a bit, tilt his head, open his mouth-

 _Wow_. 

What was gentle and cautious becomes- less so. Kenma seems to have gotten over his initial hesitancy and the kiss begins to turn a little sloppy, almost edging on desperate- the hand that was clutching at the collar of Kuroo’s shirt slides onto his neck and into his nape, tugging at the strands. Kuroo shudders- he is putty in Kenma’s hands. He wonders if Kenma knows.

Kenma licks into his mouth, making him gasp. He can feel him smile as he goes in for another kiss.

_Scratch that, the little shit definitely knows._

The addition of tongue is one that has Kuroo both exhilarated and petrified. Kenma is a fast learner, it would seem. The kiss now feels strange and squishy and Kuroo most certainly has no idea what he’s doing, but it feels good, so he just goes with it. 

(Part of him wants to ask just how Kenma knows how to do all this, but he’s too afraid to.)

After a while, the passionate open-mouthed kisses turn slow and soft. Kuroo laughs in short breaths between peppering kisses on Kenma’s forehead, his cheeks, his nose, his eyelids, the corners of his mouth, _everywhere-_ until he is sure he has covered every square centimeter of his face. 

He finally pulls back to get a proper look at Kenma- this boy, this incredibly smart but idiotic boy who somehow thought, even for a second, that Kuroo didn’t want this.

It’s difficult to see, what with the only light source being the dim orange streetlight above them, but the flush on Kenma’s cheeks is unmistakable. His eyes are half-lidded, almost as if he’s drunk on something, his cheeks bloom bright and beautiful, and his lips are red and slick, slightly swollen. _Because of me_ , Kuroo thinks as his heart climbs into his throat. _He looks like that because of me._

It seems Kenma’s noticed Kuroo’s shameless staring. His lips quirk up a little at the edges, pleased. “Like what you see?”

Kuroo doesn’t know where this side of Kenma has been all his life, but he is so glad that it’s here now.

He exhales, knocking their foreheads together and releasing Kenma’s wrist in favor of wrapping his arms around his waist. 

“ _Kyanmaaa…_ ”

“What?”

He makes direct eye contact with Kenma and gives him a look of faux disappointment. “How could you do this to me?”

“Do… what, exactly?”

“You know! How could you keep this from me for all this time! How come you didn’t tell me that you liked me? We could have gotten together a lot sooner than this!”

“I didn’t- you didn’t tell me either, you know.” Kenma is trying to look annoyed, but failing miserably because of the soft smile that’s making itself a permanent fixture on his face.

“That’s because I didn’t know you liked me, you pudding-for-brains. For the brain of Nekoma, you sure are dumb,” Kuroo teases, his trademark shit-eating grin plastered on his lips.

“I didn’t know you liked me either!” Kenma is growing exasperated, but it is still unmistakably fond, just as it has been for the past decade. 

(Kuroo thinks that "like" is too small a word for what he feels, but he won't say that just yet.)

“Why’d you kiss me then?”

“I… well, you…” Kenma trails off, mumbling something unintelligible.

“What was that? I didn’t hear you...”

“... The... jacket.”

Kuroo isn’t sure if he heard him right. “The- the _jacket_?”

Kenma lets out a petulant huff. “Yes, Kuro, the jacket.”

“You- you mean when I left your jacket on the train? Why would that ever make you want to _kiss_ me?”

“Oh my god,” Kenma rakes a hand over his face. Now he looks annoyed for real. “No, Kuro, it was not because you lost my jacket. I don’t know anyone who would want to kiss someone for being an idiot.”

“Uh, you just-”

“ _Don’t_ finish that sentence.” Kenma looks down and squints as if contemplating all of his life’s decisions that have led him to this moment, then takes a deep breath before continuing.

“Just so you know, I’m not going to repeat this, so listen carefully. It… it was… because you gave me your jacket.” Kenma’s voice is low, nearly a whisper. “Because you didn’t want me to get wet in the rain, even though that meant that you would.”

Kenma is chewing on his lip again, clearly embarrassed, and Kuroo is taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself so that he doesn’t go into cardiac arrest for the third time in the last ten minutes. 

“I d-didn’t know you had a th-thing for chivalry, Kenma.” Kuroo tries to be smooth again, which goes up in flames the moment he trips over his words, revealing how truly and utterly fucked he is. 

Kenma, at least, finds it endearing enough. “Maybe,” he says, leaning back in with a smile.

Kuroo sighs before Kenma’s lips even meet his. He could honestly stand here in the rain, just kissing Kenma, for-

**_HONK!_ **

The two break apart violently- Kenma’s gone as pale as a sheet and Kuroo thinks he just felt three different hairs go white. A bright light floods the area around them as they realize _hey, this is a road, we’ve been standing in the middle of a road for like the past ten minutes_ , and they both bolt to the sidewalk.

The vehicle speeds away, and they find shelter underneath the awning of a nearby building. Thankfully, the area is pretty much empty of any people, considering the weather. The wind blows harder, and Kuroo involuntarily shivers. Come to think of it, where is his-

“Uh, Kuro? I think your jacket is…”

Kuroo’s gaze darts to Kenma, who is currently holding up something dark and cloth-like, glistening in the light, and _oh_ , that’s his jacket.

Covered in mud.

“You dropped it earlier, back when…”

“Ah. Huh. Okay then.”

Kenma appears perplexed at Kuroo’s nonchalance. “Aren’t you… upset?”

“Me? Nah.” Kuroo takes the muddy jacket in one hand and takes Kenma’s with the other. 

“It was worth it," he says, with a terrible, lovesick smile.

Kenma stiffens, probably flustered. “... You’re so damn cheesy.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that, I already have a whole list of cheesy pet names and pick-up lines that I’ve been waiting to use on you.”

“Wait, no-”

“Too late, honeybun! Prepare yourself for a lifetime supply of cheese!”

“... Lifetime, huh?”

 _Oops_. “That’s- ahem, that’s, uh, you see-”

“It’s fine.” Kenma squeezes Kuroo’s hand and looks up with a shy smile. “I’d like that.”

"... Kenma, you're killing me here."

"I know." _This little..._ "Hey, I forgot to say it earlier, but..."

"What? What is it?"

"I love you."

Kuroo dies for the seventh time that night.

(The next morning, they both end up having to call in sick to school.)

(That, Kuroo thinks, was worth it too.)

**Author's Note:**

> Extra:  
> “I called the train station’s lost and found office. They said they found your jacket and that they’ll hold it for you until you come by to get it.”  
> Kenma settles further back into the massive red jacket that is most definitely way too big for him. “They can keep it.”
> 
> This is the sappiest goddamn thing I have ever written. I have no regrets.  
> Aaaaah thank you so much for making it to the end of this fic!! I'm shocked that I've gone this long without writing anything for haikyuu, especially kuroken considering it is my complete heart and soul, but now I've done it! I hope you had as much fun reading this fic as I did writing it. Please feel free to leave comments- whether it's a line you loved, constructive criticism, or even just a single emoji, comments are literally the air that I breathe, so don't be shy. Again, thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day or night ♡


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